Romans 8:1
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Romans 8 has much to say regarding how to walk in the Spirit. God made us with free choice but He wants us to choose His ways, the consequences of which lead to spiritual and physical health. Today my life is the full product of my past choices. Some of those choices were wrong ones, but God, in His great mercy and loving kindness, brings me to repentance, forgiveness, restoration and change as He teaches me how to walk in His ways and make right choices.
God’s law of sowing and reaping is upheld by my choices. Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” If I sow in the Spirit, I will reap in the Spirit, but if I sow in the flesh, I will reap death – negative consequences with an obvious lack of God’s peace and joy.
A simple example is road rage. It is surprising how many people seem to “grow horns” when they get behind the steering wheel of a car! No-one likes to be on the receiving end of other people’s bad driving. When others do not adhere to the rules of the road or are discourteous, it is easy to judge their bad driving. I can become irritated and make the wrong choice to walk in the flesh, criticizing and sowing wrong seed in my field!…..if I do not repent quickly the seed will bring forth after its’s own kind. My peace and joy is forfeited as I judge the bad driver and have no grace for them. If I do not repent, God will also prove to me that I am no different without His grace.
The alternative is that I can choose to walk in the Spirit and access God’s grace for the situation. I can ask God to bless the offender as I choose to forgive him. Do we realise there is no forgiveness for unforgiveness? Jesus declared, (Matthew 6:14-15), that if we do not forgive others their trespasses against us, God will not forgive us! Only God knows the other driver’s reason or motive for his mistake or discourtesy, I do not. When I choose to bless instead of judge, I exercise my spiritual muscle as I walk in the Spirit, sowing seeds of life and health into my harvest field. The hallmarks of walking in the Spirit are joy and peace. The more I exercise this spiritual muscle, it begins to operate more freely and the more enjoyable life becomes as I enter into the Rest of His Presence, clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8: 3-4 “……God sending His own Son……that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you, is faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the power of choice, and your Holy Spirit to enable us to choose your over-coming, victorious life…..indwelt by Deity, transformed for eternity! Continue your work, Father, to bring us to our destiny of the fullness of your Son in us, for your glory!
